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Been busy got the red paint onto the jetpack. Need to finish up the top & bottom of the fuel tanks & then onto some fine weathering detail. Plus I plan on painting all the symbols & stripes instead of using decals.

Well the holidays slowed my progress plus the weather has been extremely cold putting a halt on any painting for the time being.

Started dyeing my MOW soft parts. Have the belt pouches & the spats done but need to be weathered.

The flight suit is in process.

Did take some time while it was cold out & spent some time on the computer. I drew up a 3D model for the toe spikes to be 3D printed which I received today from Shapeways. I designed them to fit the MOW 2013 boots that I have. The toe on these boots is different than any of the templates that have been done. Used Raf's template as a reference for rough sizes as well as scaling reference photos but had to make deviations to the spikes & angles in order to fit the toe shape of the boots. I had them done in a polished aluminide to give it a metallic look. I am pretty happy with how they turned out.

Started coloring my MOW 2013 boots as most know they come all white. I used an acrylic fabric paint by Tulip called Soft Matte. Most fabric paints require a heat setting where these don't. Used Spideyfett's tutorial. For the light gray I had to mix black & white till I got what I was looking for & dilluted it with water. Did the wet on wet, definitely helps with soaking the painting into the fabric. Just like painting with water colors. The black was just straight black diluted to give it a more watery consistency. Onto weather them next.

Boots & boot spikes are all weathered. Need to get some screws to attach the boot plate & spikes, they are taped on for a mock up. The boot plates & spikes are the ones that are 3D printed. The boot plates & spikes I went with the MOM tour look. Added some yellow, purple, black, some scuffing of sand paper for the weathering. Not sure if they need to be darker because lighting changes the look of them. Over all pretty happy with the look of them.

Thanks DS, pretty happy with the way the toe spikes cam out. On the toe spike did a little misting with some chrome, nickel, & black. Then did some hand painting of the grime & finishing with a matte coat. I had a hard time making those nice new boots look so beat up.

Well I managed to get something that I never thought I would get. I scored a very nice Casio MQ-1 calculator on Ebay for a decent price. I don't have plans to dismantle this but have something else in mind.

Been working on my MOW flight suit. Have to say it has been an interesting endeaver dyeing fabric. Lots of experimenting went into getting what I wanted. As most know MOW flight suits come all white. Using RIT dye I mixed up a custom color of using RIT's formula for Silver Cloud (#186) with a little extra evening blue added & some pearl gray. Then bleached this down till it was a pale light blue rinsing & letting it dry. Then I made a strong batch of pearl gray with some black. When this was complete I just rinsed and dried. This gave me a blueish gray. Which with different lighting it brings out the blue. I wanted gray but I wanted to have that blue under tone.

I started the weathering process. Doing a wet on wet with acrylic fabric paints. Using a brush & a little bit with the air brush to mist with some scrubbing to blend in. Mixed up a charcoal color & a dark brown rust color. Need to darken the legs some more & need to work on the leg pouches some.

The flak vest needs some weathering, haven't done anything to that as of yet.

Thanks guys for the kind words. Everything I have done to this point dyeing my flight suit had to be the most nerve racking.

Why did you choose the MOW flight suit? Getting the dye right would have driven me nuts!

DP, debated with myself for quite a while which way I was going to go with my flight suit. Few things contributed me deciding on MOW's suit, being a 2 piece for convenience reasons (I know not screen accurate), all white so that I could get the color I wanted, & came with all spats & pouches. It is well made & very good quality. The upper portion is made long to be tucked in & the way it fits it won't ride up. Between the girth belt, ammo belt, & the harness belt you won't be able to see that it is a 2 piece. I really like how it fits as well.

The dying process was something I wanted to do but had been putting it off cause it would be something new that I had never done before. I had gone to the fabric store bought similar cotton fabric & cut swatches. I used them to formulate a color recipe. Some or the results were pretty surprising. Also found you have to treat the liquid dye different than the powder. The powder is more concentrated & has to be diluted. Felt like a chemist & my kids thought I was crazy. Opted to not use the washing machine, bought some plastic tubs. Had tub for dye, tub for bleach, & pre rinse (prior to washing machine). It was a learning experience to say the least. I am very pleased with the color I came up with. I was going for the color similar to this photo.

Thanks DP, to me that picture really shows the color & weathering well. The other one is of the full shot in Jabba's palace that you were using as well. I had a color in mind & with looking at the MOM photos there is a some blue showing, but yet the suit looks gray. What amazes me is how the lighting affects the colors. Plus ROTJ suit is just plain and simple dirty. So to me I need some more weathering, which I will do in stages cause I don't want to over due it plus looking for layered look. Experimenting is part of the fun of learning how to do something.

Did an upgrade to the left gauntlet. I had originally made my key pad from scratch it was passable but something I just haven't been happy with. So I designed & 3D printed a modified version of the Casio MQ-1 key pad that would fit my gauntlet due to it being a little bigger than actual size. This gives it a little more accurate look even though it is a little bigger. The width is correct but the depth is about 5/16" too long, but spaced out the keys to make it look right. I tried to get all the numbers & letters as close to how the MQ-1 key pad looks. Helped to have a real Casio MQ-1.

Holy **** I thought your 3D printed version was the painted MQ-1. that looks cool Mr. I would keep your 3D version on the gauntlet and hold the MQ-1 for the Fett collection.
Great work Brother!

The MQ-1 key pad would be too small for my gauntlet & wouldn't look right. So I lengthened it some. I am amazed at how well it turned out. The MQ-1 key pad measures 1.250" X 2.000" the one I had 3D printed measures 1.675" X 2.000". So it is closer to being a square than a rectangle. I thought I would give this a shot, to make a custom sized key pad instead of tearing into modifying the nose on the gauntlet. Gives me a reason to make another set in the future cause there are a few other things I want to change

As much as I would love to use the MQ-1, I will be making an accurate sized 3D printed key pad & possibly making it so that all the buttons are separate & could be made to function. This was my test piece to see how well it would turn out.

I did model up a dental expander & had that 3D printed as well & will try & swap that out as well.

I got my jetpack harness in today. I opted to try something & am rather pleased with the outcome. I modeled up the jetpack harness from the reference photos with some modification to allow for 3D printing. Need to do some light sanding & then going to give it a good metallic paint job. This is a super light weight alternative, weighing in at 5.5 oz. It has some flexibility but strong. Only the lower 3.5 inches of the frame is hollow. The rest is solid.

The rings are .250" diameter round.

I will be adding an 1/8" by 1/2" aluminum bar for the lower jetpack hooks to sit on. The frame was design for this so that it would be structurally sound.

Painted up the jetpack harness & assembled it. Added an 1/8" by 1/2" aluminum bar for the lower jetpack hooks to attach. Have strapping ordered. Going to use 2" wide seat belt straping for the black & 1.5" wide white nylon strapping for the pieces that attach to the upper jetpack hooks. I have a U.S. Diver's belt buckle that I need to do some modification to being that it is not the exact one.